One Pot Spanish Chicken and Potatoes

One Pot Spanish Chicken and Potatoes is one of those recipe names where you read it and say, mmm! yumm! sounds so good! …. erhhhhm, so, like, *ahem* what is it? Let me tell you what my version of Spanish Chicken and Potatoes is all about, you food interneter BFFs. Let. Me. Tell. You.

Once upon a time, I lived in Sevilla, Spain. I know, right?! I was studying abroad, learning Spanish (un café con leche, por favor) and eating my way through Spanish recipes lovingly prepared by my host mother, Fatima. It was an extremely rare time in my life to travel ALONE, which, just so you know, for me to do anything alone is a big deal and not always my favorite thing, and so now that I can check off this experience on my life list, I see no reason to do anything alone ever again. Bjork is so thrilled right now.

But traveling. In addition to traveling and seeing the most amazing parts of the world (Morocco! Switzerland! France! Portugal!) obviously it was a hugely wonderful way for me to learn about food. I wish I could tell you I was super cultured with my food interests at that point in my life, because wouldn’t that be a nice story? Young aspiring food blogger learns about food and culture through boldly and bravely eating her way through Europe.

That picture you have of well-dressed American Student Me walking around with a glass of red wine and my pinkie in the air tasting different types of olive oil in the market? Just… no. Let those images crash and burn, friends, and replace them with a cheap pair of flats that I wore for at least 149 out of my 150 days abroad, an old tattered brown jacket, and a box of crackers (Digestives, anyone? I sort of became obsessed) and maybe some buttered toast with my cafe con leche.

Living the dream.

Last weekend, I was back at my parent’s house looking for an apple crisp recipe that matched the one that I found in the fridge and single-handedly polished off somewhere in the 10pm hour, and as I shuffled through my mom’s million and one recipe cards, I found this old recipe in my mom’s recipe box labeled “Tomato Salsa” from my host mother, Fatima. Throwback! I knew right away I had to make it because you guys would love it. And I already do love it. And I like to love food with you, and maybe I can make up for the crackers-and-toast phase by putting this recipe FROM SPAIN out into my food circle. Maybe? Don’t answer.

Fatima would make this sauce all the time, and she called it “salsa” – simmered tomatoes, eggplants, onions, garlic, olive oil, and salt thrown in this contraption called the Thermomix (anyone?) and it would cook into this gloriously fragrant sauce that would then get blended up into something of a smooth, rustic tomato gravy. We would put it on Spanish tortilla (eggs/potatoes/onions/cheese — CRAVING NOW) and just eat it straight up from the pan with a spoon. I didn’t love all Spanish food, but this was one recipe that I remember loving so much that I would eat it cold out of the fridge at night when I was homesick. Weird visual, TMI, sorry.

It’s been at least five years since I even thought about this sauce, so bringing it back to life with chicken and potatoes and serving it to my family for dinner over a truckload of steamy white rice was food-time-warp-magic.

Wait, though, this recipe! I was going to describe it somewhere back there and then WORDS.

One Pot Spanish Chicken and Potatoes is a warm, comforting, fragrant, and humble dinner recipe that features (besides the obvious – chicken and potatoes) fresh tomatoes, eggplants, onions, garlic, and olive oil. The building blocks of the whole meal are chicken and potatoes, as in that’s what’s going to make you feel extremely satisfied and deeply nourished and ready to hunker down for the long winter. PS. It’s time. We hit 40 degrees in Minnesota. I wore a hat yesterday. Lock the doors, close the windows, and I’ll see you in April.

But you guys. The real show-stopper in this recipe is the homemade tomato sauce. We’re talking about that fragrant marriage of simmered tomatoes, eggplant, onions, garlic, and olive oil pureed into that richly delicious rustic sauce. Licking the blender clean required.

And they work together beautifully, those two. The chicken and potatoes are delicious on their own, but these two main ingredients are simmered in the magic tomato sauce to grab all the good flavor and the whole one-pot-party is topped with a handful of fresh parsley for color and a cool, fresh ping in your mouth against the deep, rich flavor and acidity of the saucy chicken and potatoes.

I see so many good things coming at you the very second you toss a piece of crusty white bread into that pan of homemade sauce, and/or when you pile this beauty up on top of a steaming pile of rice. Just imagine it for two seconds: the crusty white bread sopping up that extra sauce alongside the simple, unpretentious, and flavorful chicken and potatoes.

This one-pot recipe Spanish Chicken and Potatoes is full of flavor and vibrant color and is perfect served with a big piece of crusty white bread or over a steaming hot pile of rice. The recipe is one inspired from a tomato "salsa" my sweet host mother, Fatima, always made for me when I lived in Sevilla, Spain.

Ingredients

½ cup olive oil

1 large yellow onion, sliced (about 1 cup)

3 cloves garlic

5 ripe tomatoes, cut in half

½ of a large eggplant, skin removed and diced (2-3 cups)

1½ teaspoon salt

1½ lbs. chicken breast meat

1 large Russet potato, sliced

salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon all purpose seasoning (I used poultry seasoning)

½ cup fresh parsley leaves

crusty bread or rice for serving

Instructions

Sauce: Heat the olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium high heat. Add the onions and garlic. Scoop the juices, seeds, and flesh out of the tomatoes into the pan. Add the eggplant pieces and simmer the mixture for 5 minutes or until everything is soupy-like and softened and very good smelling. Place the scooped out tomato halves over the sauce, open side down. Simmer for a few minutes until the tomatoes have steamed and softened. Break them up in the pan and simmer for another 5-10 minutes to get all the flavors real nice and yummy.

Blend: Transfer to a blender or food processor, puree until mixture reaches your desired consistency, and stir in the salt. Taste and adjust to you liking.

Chicken and Potatoes: In the same pan, add one more quick drizzle of olive oil and add the chicken and potato slices. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and seasoning. Saute for a few minutes on each side until they are browned.

Finish: Add the sauce back to the pan, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes or until the chicken and potatoes are fully cooked. Top with fresh parsley and serve with crusty white bread or rice.

269 Comments (page 1)

YES. MAJOR DEAD.
Is it so wrong that I want to risk getting all kinds of burned to jump into that pan, start swimming in that amazing (homemade! WUT?!) sauce and eat my way out?
Ps SO jealous of your Spain adventures. That is my dream.
I guess I’ll just eat this until I can get on a plane on go. I’m totally ok with that. Pinned!

Rainy here too and the only comfort….potatoes, the perfect source of comfort. But I also appreciate the eggplant addition here. And the tomatoes for good measure. Laughed so hard at your alone comments. When I was 22 I traveled all over Europe by myself while my sister was doing a two week work stint there. Now I’m afraid to go to Kmart by my myself. Or Walmart. Or order food. My husband always has to call for takeout because of my takeout-ordering-phobia issues.

My Spanish host mom swears by her Thermomix! It’s like a crock pot plus blender combo. We are never without a creamy vegetable puree soup in the house.
For some added Spanish goodness, I bet slices of chorizo would be an excellent addition to the dish. Plus, if you have leftovers (challenge accepted?) the chorizo continues to leak all of its spicy, greasy flavors into the sauce so that it is even better the next day. Buen provecho!

This looks delicious! Two questions: Could you make the sauce the night before? The tomatoes we find in our neck of the woods at this time of year are pretty lack luster. Could you substitute with canned crushed or plum tomatoes?

It’s the middle of summer here in sunny California and we’ve got organic tomatoes EVERYWHERE. I was thinking that in addition to my basic San Marzano sauce which I put up every summer, I would can some of this sauce to pull out over the winter. We just don’t buy fresh tomatoes out of season and this looks like a wonderful fall and winter dish!

Aww! This post brings back so many memories from my experience in Segovia, Spain. Your description of life as a study abroad student pretty much mimics mine to a T. I remember eating these cookie/cracker things called Maria Fibras and omgosh, all those bocadillos. Also, the other day I was discussing with my husband how I used to be so independent like when I studied abroad and took Ryan Air and Easy Jet flights all around Europe by myself. Don’t think I could do that now!

Your feelings about travelling alone sound just like me hahah. I wish I was like so many of my friends, and my sister, who have ventured out on such wonderful solo travels, but I am such a chicken 🙁 Much prefer travelling with someone else. But at least you got this delish recipe out of the experience (and I’m sure so much more, too, of course)

Excuse me while I wipe the drool off my chin. Holy yum! This sounds amazing. Your photos are gorgeous, as usual, and I feel like I can already taste it. I will definitely be making this recipe this winter….it sounds so comforting and hearty. Thanks for sharing! 🙂

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